The last episode of the first season of Masters of Horror (in terms of the DVD releases) finds the master of horror himself - William Malone - cranking out a beastly little tale of occult dealings and revenge. Malone, as you may recall, was responsible for that terrifying film that managed to slaughter all competitors at the box-office while breaking countless records in the process. Alright, so Fear Dot Com was actually a pretty shitty movie and Malone certainly shouldn't be considered a master of horror, but his entry in the series was surprisingly good.

The plot finds an outcast schoolgirl named Tara (Lindsay Pulsipher) who, while riding her bike through the woods, is struck by a van and kidnapped. When she awakens, she finds herself in a hospital with a nurse who introduces herself as Judith (Lori Petty) and who goes on to explain that she's now in Vermont. Considering that Tara was in Connecticut when she was abducted, this fact is just a little odd... and it gets even odder when Judith starts asking some rather personal questions regarding her sex life and religion.

Eventually, Tara discovers that Judith isn't a nurse at all and that she isn't in a hospital either; she has been kidnapped by Judith and her husband Anton (William Samples), and the duo throw her in the basement where she meets what appears to be another kidnapped teen (Jesse Haddock). The two have no idea what's going on or what this couple plans to do with them, but there are clues to be found scrawled on the walls in this dingy little basement: "Beware the fair haired child" reads one, while another cautions that they should "Hide from it" at all times. Spooky shit, man.

I had to wonder why in the hell Malone was given an opportunity to contribute to this series, as his horror outings haven't exactly set the industry on fire. As of this writing, Fear Dot Com ranks as the lowest-rated movie on this site, coming in "ahead" of gems such as House of the Dead and Boogeyman. His remake of House on Haunted Hill was decent enough, but one offering like that certainly can't make up for the stinker that was his (prior to Masters of Horror) latest horror offering. Master of horror? Hardly, but after watching this entry, I have to say that I wouldn't mind seeing him get another chance.

What I enjoyed about The Fair Haired Child was the fact that is was a simple monster movie that favored scares and spooky visuals over MTV-styled editing and "Boo!" scares. The audience is given a basic setup - a girl and a guy in a basement with a monster - and from there, it's simply survival of the fittest. This is the part of the film that works best, as this "child" was damned creepy in both appearance and presence, and the impressive camera-work and POV-shots used made it all the better. Lindsay Pulsipher played the "heroine in distress" role as good as one could ask for from a horror film, and all of this simply worked in my humble opinion.

The only thing that I didn't care for was the "twist" ending, but it wasn't bad enough to take away from the film as a whole. The Fair Haired Child wasn't the best that the first season had to offer, but it certainly ranks pretty high up there. 8/10.

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#1:
Tristan
- added 11/13/2007, 03:11 PM
8/10? Are you kidding? I think was the most
boring and ridiculous episode that I've seen so
far. I could have cared less about anything that
was happening, and all I did was check the display
every few minutes to see much more I had to sit
through. 4/10